Bally Bet users in Indiana only have until June 30 to withdraw any funds from their online betting accounts. After that date, Bally’s will send physical checks to the addresses attached to user accounts.
The Indiana online sportsbook, which is partnered with Bally’s Evansville for market access, is shutting down temporarily before re-launching in a few months. Users will have to re-register for the new app.
In May, Bally’s announced two new tech partnerships after previous attempts to manage its own platform were less than successful. Bally Bet will hop on Kambi’s sports betting platform and will have help from White Hat Gaming for player account management and payment processing.
The change will take place for Bally Sportsbook accounts nationwide. The new app will integrate the Bally Rewards program and should have better marketing functions.
Major Bally decision will have minor impact
What seems like a risky move on Bally Bet Indiana Sportsbook’s part — booting every single customer from the app and asking them to re-join later — won’t actually affect many people, relatively speaking. The Bally Bet app hasn’t managed to capture even 1% of the market share in any U.S. state where it’s active.
In Indiana, Bally Bet took in only 0.1% of the total online sports betting handle in May. It is not the only small player in the Indiana market, though. Bally Bet, BetWay Sportsbook IN and UniBet Sportsbook Indiana each did between $200,000-$300,000 in handle. These numbers pale in comparison to the top two online operators, FanDuel Sportsbook and DraftKings Sportsbook.
May Indiana online sports betting handle comparison:
- BallyBet: $259,623
- FanDuel: $96.2 million
- DraftKings: $93.8 million
- Total online revenue: $254.2 million
Even the retail sportsbook at Bally’s Evansville nearly tripled the handle taken in by the app.
Previous missteps cost Bally’s big
Bally is trying to correct course after spending $3 billion to build out the BallyBet platform and a customer acquisition pipeline that did not deliver for the company.
The largest expense was acquiring Gamesys for $2.08 billion in cash plus $500 million in stock. Other acquisitions included DFS site MonkeyKnifeFight, which Bally shut down in February.
In March, Bally’s CEO stepped down. New CEO Robeson Reeves says that focusing on Bally’s strengths while leaning on the new partnerships will position the company for new growth.
Reeves cites Bally’s “marketing prowess” as one of those strengths. And he better be right, because Bally Bet will need to be convincing and compelling in order to pry market share from the hands of the big dogs.
Ohio is expected to get the first look at the new Bally Bet app in August, followed by state-by-state launches.
Can Bally Sports weather the storm and help bolster new app?
Bally’s parent company Diamond Sports Group is going through its own rough patch, having recently restructured under a Chapter 11 bankruptcy. DSG broadcasts some Major League Baseball and other sports via Bally Sports Network. On June 1 a Houston bankruptcy judge decided against allowing DSG to pay less than what is contractually owed to MLB teams for broadcasting rights.
It’s unclear whether the DSG bankruptcy will affect the potential success of Bally Bet. But if Diamond can’t pay teams and, in turn, loses broadcasting rights, it certainly could have an effect on marketing the Bally Bet app.
DSG already lost the San Diego Padres last month when it failed to make a payment to the team to retain the rights. Major League Baseball now broadcasts the Padres’ games on MLB Network and other cable channels. Bally Sports is still airing games for 13 MLB teams.
